Improvement in folding chairs



. I. E. WAKEFIELD.

FOLDING CHAIR; w

.N 179,983, Patented Ju1y18,187 6.

H PETERH, PHOTCLUTNOGRAPHER, WALMINGTONv D. C.

TED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

Y JOHN E. WAKEFIELD, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 EDWARD W. VAILL, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOLDING CHAIRS.-

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179,983, dated July 18, 1876; application tiled April 17, 1876.

To all whomtt may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHN E. WAKEFIELD,

of Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Folding Chairs, of which the following is a specification:

This is an improvement upon the chair patented by A. C. Boyd, April 22, 1873, No. 138,124. In this patent the back-frame is pivoted to the back legs, which legs curve forward and upward to receive the front of the flexible seat, and the front legs are pivoted at their upper ends to the back-frame, and connected by links to the back legs.

When the chair is unfolded for use, the back legs rest upon a cross-rail between the two front legs, and this cross-rail becomes the pivot for the forward ends of the links.

My invention is an improvement upon the aforesaid invention and consists in the removal of the cross-rail and the pivoting of the links directly to the front legs, this improvement being made for allowing a variation in theheight of the seat by simply increasing the length of the seat from front to back, and also for keeping the seat constantly under tension, so that it will not sag and appear loose when it has become slightly stretched by use. V In the drawings, Figure l is a section ofthe chair as unfolded for use, and Fig. 2 is afront view of the same.

The back-frame is made of the side pieces a and cross-pieces b, that may be more or less ornamental and upholstered, if desired. At 0 the lower ends of the frame a are hinged or pivoted to the back legs d, and these legs d are extended upward and forward and united by the cross-piecef, and the seat is stretched between this piecef and the back-rail g. The front legs 1 are pivoted at their upper ends to the back a.

The parts thus far described are substantially the same as in the aforesaid patent.

My improvement relates to the links h,placed between the back legs at and the front legs I,

and connected directly at their respective ends to such legs, so that the forward portion of the back legs can swing either above or below the pivots o, thatunite the forward ends of the links h to the front legs Z.

By this construction the folding properties of the chair are not changed; but the flexible seat is always under tension when the chair is unfolded, and hence it does not hang loose, asis the case with the chair patented-as aforesaid, because the said chair-frame stops at a definite pointwhen unfolded, and the seat is not under tension, and frequently stretches in use and hangs down loosely.

In my chair, if the flexible seat is length- -,ened, the railsfand g, being more distant, al-

low the legs to spread and the seat to be at a less height from the floor, and the pivots 0 may in such cases come above the legs d, as indicated by dotted lines in :Fig. 1. By this construction the same frame can be employed in an ordinary or a reclining'ohair by simply varying the length of the seat from front to back.

I claim as my invention In a folding chair having a back-frame hinged at its lower end to the back legs, the seat between the upper ends of the front legs, and arail in the back-frame, and the front legs united at. their upper ends to the backframe, the links h, placed between the front and the back legs, and pivoted at their ends directly to such legs, substantially as specified, whereby the cross-rail is dispensed with, and the proper strain upon the flexible seat insured, as set forth.

Signed by me this 8th day of April, A. D. 1876.

JOHN E. WAKEFIELD. Witnesses:

0. S. GORDON, A. B. DUNBAR. 

